The Nashville Predators made waves on Thursday by signing Pekka Rinne to a seven year, $49-million contract. It is the largest contract in the history of one of the NHL’s smallest markets, and it instantly establishes Rinne as the cornerstone for the team for most of the next decade.

Last year when Tom Renney spoke about his team the word he used the most was the "Process." We were never exactly sure where the process would take the Oilers, and what it entailed, but when I spoke to Renney about their six-game road trip that starts tonight in LA, he revealed one specific element of the process.

Yesterday, Robin Brownlee nicely covered the difficulties that Colten Teubert will face in his NHL debut on a pairing with Theo Peckham. Teubert, though, isn’t the only defenseman trying to show something over the next stretch of games. Jeff Petry, only recently returned from the minors, faces an uphill battle to establish himself as a regular in the Oilers’ defensive rotation.

While the obvious storyline is that Colten Teubert will have some extra motivation in his NHL debut at the Staples Center Thursday against the team that drafted him but traded him away before giving him a shot, I'm guessing he'll be far too busy trying to survive to follow that script.

Linus Omark has been sent down to OKC. He does have an out-clause in his contract to go to Sweden, but he will report to the AHL. It is a smart move on his part. He wants to play in the NHL, and staying in North America makes the most sense for him.

He doesn't have to clear waivers, so if he plays well the Oilers can recall him without worrying about losing him on re-entry waivers. He needs to play and he is better off playing in the AHL than eating popcorn in an NHL pressbox.

The Oilers will also recall Colten Teubert with Cam Barker still questionable. Tom Renney said today he wasn't sure when they would call up Teubert, but it sounds like he will join them sooner than later.

Smart move by the Oilers and Omark to go to OKC. He'll get lots of icetime under Todd Nelson and if he can find some consistency I think he'll find himself back in the NHL.